More high school teachers, students earning college credit

Stark County school teachers are returning to the college classroom in greater numbers than ever in hopes of sparking their students’ college careers.

At least 50 teachers from 11 Stark County traditional public schools and four schools in neighboring counties will be enrolling at Kent State University over the next year to earn the credit hours they need to teach college classes at their high schools.

More than 20 teachers started classes at Kent last month. Another 10 physics teachers are expected to start classes later this semester and the rest are expected to begin their classes over the summer.

The teachers are going to college for free — except for the cost of a parking pass — through a $498,442 state grant awarded to Kent State University at Stark and the Stark County Educational Service Center.

A. Bathi Kasturiarachi, assistant dean for academic affairs at Kent State at Stark, said the university sought the grant because it recognized that many school districts lacked a sufficient number of teachers who had the credentials to teach a college course at their high school through the new College Credit Plus program.

College Credit Plus, which requires every Ohio school district to offer college courses to eligible students as young as seventh grade either online, at a high school or on a college campus, requires teachers to possess at least a master’s degree in their subject area or a master’s degree in any discipline, plus at least 18 hours of graduate school credit in their subject area. The previous dual enrollment program, known as Post Secondary Enrollment Options, did not define minimum education standards for teachers.

“What College Credit Plus does, it bridges K-12 with college, and that bridging usually wasn’t smooth,” Kasturiarachi said. “I think this allows (high school students) to have an exposure to college courses and then allows them to seamlessly move into college after that.”

Kent State, and the University of Akron, last year helped 35 teachers participating in a 12-county young entrepreneurs consortium access the online master’s degree programs they needed to teach college classes through Stark State. Stark County’s other larger colleges and universities do not offer the master’s degrees in the discipline areas needed by the College Credit Plus teachers.

Stark County’s traditional public school districts currently employ 63 teachers who are teaching College Credit Plus courses in core subject areas such as math, English, social studies, science and foreign languages. But Dave Pilati, a curriculum consultant and College Credit Plus coordinator for the Stark County ESC, said the number of credentialed teachers is not consistent from district to district.

Pilati said small districts and districts with a high number of students from poor families often have the lowest amount of credentialed teachers. He said those districts were given the opportunity to send the most teachers back to school under the grant.

Kasturiarachi said the goal of the grant is to provide every district with at least one credentialed teacher in each of the core subject areas. The roughly 50 teachers who will be taking Kent classes through the grant are expected to complete their coursework by the fall 2017. Teachers participating in the program are expected to remain with their current district for at least five years, or they could be asked to pay back the tuition costs covered by the grant.

Donna Noble, an Alliance High School English teacher, said the grant will allow her to finish her master’s degree in English. She’s taken various graduate courses over the years to keep her teaching license active but never made the push to obtain the higher degree.

“Three years ago I had a difficult divorce, and prior to that I was a stay-at-home mom so I didn’t have a lot of income to (get my master’s degree),” said Noble, who previously taught nearly 10 years in the Marlington Local and Leetonia Exempted school districts.

Noble began the graduate class, Literary Movements, at Kent State’s main campus in January. She said returning to a college classroom and being challenged to develop creative class projects has been invigorating.

COLLEGE ON CAMPUS

Fairless Local administrators hope the district’s three teachers who are seeking their master’s degrees through Kent State’s grant will help rebuild its high school’s college-level course offerings.

The high school, which began offering dual enrollment classes in 2008, had provided as many as six college courses with its own staff through a partnership with Stark State College. But as teachers retired or left for higher-paying jobs at larger districts, Fairless’ dual-enrollment program began to struggled. It offered just three college-level classes at its high school in 2014, and watched as many of its high-performing students opted to take classes at a college campus.

Until its teachers get the training they need, Fairless has partnered with Kent State at Stark to bring college classes — and college professors — to its students.

Fairless has converted two of its high school classrooms and an office into Kent State’s Fairless campus where Kent professors teach college-level classes such as geography, American politics, trigonometry, and environmental science. The classrooms, designated by a large hallway Kent State banner, sit across the hall from one of the high school’s study halls.

Now beginning its second semester, the partnership has more than doubled the number of Fairless students in grades seven through 12 taking college-level classes. Last school year 45 students traveled to nearby college campuses to take classes.

Among the Fairless students taking college classes for the first time are juniors Molly Crock and Cameron Baylor and senior Emily Savage. Crock and Savage said they likely wouldn’t have enrolled if they would have had to travel to a college campus as it would have meant sacrificing their high-school experience.

Baylor, who is seeking a career as a neurologic physical therapist, said taking classes at a college campus would’ve been physically impossible this semester as she had hip surgery six weeks ago and still can’t drive.

Rex Adams, a junior who took classes at the Kent State at Stark campus last semester, said he decided to stay at Fairless this semester after learning he could get the same classes without the 30-minute commute — and without the worry of once again being stranded on Interstate 77 with a flat tire.

Assistant High School Principal Mike Hearn said Fairless now only has five students who take classes at a college campus, which has resulted in significant savings for the financially strapped district.

Under its partnership with Kent State at Stark, Hearn said Fairless pays Kent $30 per credit hour, which includes the cost of the textbook that will be used for at least three years. That equates to about $24,000 for roughly 100 students, which is cheaper than the $100,000 the district previously spent for the 45 students who took classes at a college campus.

Principal Larry Chambliss said the high school also gets the benefit of having its high-performing students back in the hallways.

“They’re serving as role models for the other students,” he said, “and they’re not missing out on their high-school experience but still can get college credit. It’s been very rewarding.”

Reach Kelli at 330-580-8339 or kelli.young@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @kyoungREP

BY THE NUMBERS

Nearly 6,000 students from private and public Stark County schools have enrolled in a college class through Ohio’s new College Credit Plus program that took effect this school year. In most cases, the students never actually set foot on the college campus, instead attending a college class that is offered at their high school and taught by their high school teachers through an agreement with a local college or university.

Here’s the breakdown:

Kent State University at Stark

Number of College Credit Plus students taking classes on campus: 70

Number of students receiving college credit through the university at an off-campus location (such as at a high school): 238

Malone University

On campus: 21

Off campus: 42

Stark State College

On campus (either main or a satellite location): 1,341

Off campus or online: 4,026

University of Mount Union

On campus: 3 

Off campus: 100-plus 

Walsh University

On-campus: 22

Off-campus: 87